Railway car end wall



Aug. 1, 1944. G. G. GILPIN RAILWAY GAR END WALL Filed May 50, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 1, 1944; G. G. GILPIN 2,354,680

v RAILWAY CAR END WALL Filed May 50, 1942` 4 Sheets-Sh/.eet 2 Aug. 1, 1944. G. G` GlLPlN 2,354,680

' RAILWAY AR END wALL Filed May 30, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 57r 1f' 'za Aug. l, 1944. s. G. GILPIN 2,354,650 i RAILWAY GAR END WALL l v Filed May 30, 1942 4 Shee'bS-Sheet 4 Patented Aug. 1, 1944 RAILWAY CAR END WALL Garth G. Gilpin, Riverside, lll., assignor to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation ol' Delaware Application May 30, 1942, Serial No.. 445,130

14 Claims. (Cl. 1115-5410) The invention relates to railway cars and parts thereof and more particularly to the end walls of railway freight cars,

Such end walls for railway cars are required to resist the terrific forces of shifting lading, such as piping, steel plates and planed lumber caused by the service movements of the car, par-- ticularly switching, coupling and air brake applications. To resist such forces end walls have been made of one-quarter inch steel plates reinforced by a plurality vof integral contiguous parallel corrugations which are generally horizontally disposed so that the several corrugations function as a series of cooperating beams to transfer such force to the corner posts (or other frame members) of the car.

In this specification I describe my reinforced metallic plate as providing an end wall for a railway car, but it may also be used as a side door for a railway house car; a drop door for a railway general service gondola car; a hopper door for a railway hopper car or a roof ifor a railway house car.

The safety appliance rules of the Interstate Commerce Act -require a clearance of at least v12" from the outer surfaces of the end ladder rungs to a vertical plane passing through the pulling face of the coupler knuckle when the striking head of the coupler is against the buffer on the car. This-is called the end ladder clearance and cars not so arranged are subject to a One Hundred Dollarl ($100.00) fine and may only be moved by a railroad to the nearest repair ship.

In actual practice railway cars equipped with corrugated metallic end walls are arranged to provide a little more than the legally required end ladder clearance so that if the corrugated platebulges a, little the car will'still have the necessaryfend ladder clearance.

4OneY the `objects of the invention is to form a.l tively thinkmetallic plate with a plurality of parallel corrugations with the metal so disposed as provide a series of beams of great strength .compared to the weight o'f the metalused and to apply such relatively thin metallic plate so corrugated to a railway car to constitute an end wall therefor wherein an end iadder'may be attached thereto/so as to provide thelegally required end ladder clearance, and at the same time, provide Yarailway car of greater inside .length and lesser train lengthA than has heretofore been designed. l l f This invention is an improvement over the corrugated end walls disclosed in Smalls Patents No. 1,681,811 and No. 1,681,816, kboth of August 21,

1928, hereinafter referred to asvSmalls corrugated s end wall, and the construction shown in my own Patent No. 2,223,609I of December 3, 1940.

In the drawings:

Figs. 1-4, inclusive, show a typical form of my invention applied to a railway car wherein- Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on line I-I of Fig. 1.

Figs. 5-8, inclusive, show a single plate formed similarly to the plate shown in Fig, 1 wherein- Fig. 6 is a section on line 6--6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a section on line 1-1 of Fig. 5,

Fig. 8 is a'section on line 8 8 of Fig. 5.

Figs. 9 to 12, inclusive, show a single plate formed according to a modification of my invention with the ladder rungs mounted thereon ready for mounting upon a car to form part of the end wall thereof wherein- Fig. v10 is a section on line 'l0-,l0 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 1'1 is a section on line I I-ll of Fig. .9.

Fig. 12 is a section on line |2-I2 of Fig. 9.

Figs. 13-16, inclusive, are similar to Figs. 5-8

inclusive and show another modified constructogether to illustrate the end ladder clearance.

Railway house and gondola cars are now in use having end walls comprising quarter inch metallic plates formed with a plurality of horizontally disposed corrugations as disclosed in Small Patents No. 1,681,811 and No. 1,681,816 heretofore mentioned but owing to the increased tempo of freight car movement with the resultant high speed of freight trains; heavier loading of freight cars; the coupling and switching at high- .er speeds, etc., all of which increase theforce imposed upon the end wall of the car, either by a shifting load or a tendency of the load to shift, it may be desirable to materially increase the strength of the corrugated end wall plate.

The Small end walls disclosed in his patents mentioned above could be strengthened by increasing the thickness of the metallic plate from one-quarter inch to say three-eighths inch, but this would increase the weight of the end wall fifty percent, requiring the movement of that of the ladder rungs.

much more weight around the country, as well as increase the cost of material and cost of pressing the thicker plate.

The above Small corrugated end walls, as disclosed in the enumerated patents, could theoretically be strengthened by enlarging the corrugations. This, however, is a theory but not a fact.

tion modulus of each corrugation, as well as the t section modulus of the corrugated plate, would theoretically be naturally increased, but the fact is that the metallic compression apices of the corrugations, that is, the metal in the extreme compression and sides of the corrugations, is not strong enough to transfer the stresses imposed thereon to the adjacent walls of the corrugations and, therefore, these compression sides will buckle causing a failure of the corrugations. (See Gilpin Patent No. 2,223,609- of December 3, 1940.)

In my improved corrugated end wall I have en- I larged the central portions of the corrugations of the small corrugated'end wall by increasing the depth I'of the corrugations 2 from three -inches to four inches and increasing the distance 3 between the centers of the corrugations 2 from twelve inchesto fifteen inches. I overcome the weakness in the compression sides 4 mentioned above by forming a reinforcing small rib 5 (or corrugation 5) in the compression sides 4 of the corrugated wall which increases' the strength thereof to resist buckling and enables them to transferthe forces imposed thereon to the adjacent walls 6 ofthe corrugations. (This feature per se is disclosed and claimed in my Patent No. 2,223,609.)

If the end portions 8 of the above mentioned enlarged corrugations 2 vwere made deep enough to develop strength of the enlarged middle portions thereof (when considered asv beams with equally distributed loads thereon) such end portions would be so deep that if the end ladder The combined strength of the end portions 8 of the major corrugations 2 and end portlons'IZ of the reinforcing ribs 5 is sufficient to develop the combined strength of the main corrugations 2 and reinforcing ribs 5 at the middles thereof. when the plurality of main corrugations and reinforcling ribs are considered as beams supporting an equally distributed load between the corner posts of the car. When figuring' Vthe strength of the corrugated end wall as shown in Figs. 1-4, inclusive. each pair of major corrugation 2 and reinforcing rib 5 is figured as a beam between its points of support which are the corner posts of the car. Fig. 17 shows the bending moment parabola Il and the section moduli line I8 between the points of support I9-I9. The sction modulus line I8 is always above the bending moment parabola Il which shows that the beam is strong enough at all places to support the load.

I preferably also proportion the major corrugationg 2 and reinforcing ribs 5 so that the length of the center line of the metal of a cross section of the combined major ,corrugations and reinforcing ribs is substantially the same as any other cross section, thus' making the plate easy to form on reciprocating dies by equalizing the stretch and draw-in ofthe metal during the forming operation. a

By increasing the depth and spacing of the corrugations and providing the reinforcing ribs in the compression sides of the several corrugations and by gradually increasing the depth (and preferably also the width) of the reinforcing ribs 5 toward their opposite ends and securing the ladder rungs II to the endportions l2 of these `reinforcing ribs, I obtain an end wall actually thirty-six percent stronger with the same thickrungs II were mounted thereon thevend ladder clearance 56 between adjacent cars would be reduced or if the legally required endvladder clearance is provided the train length 58 of the car would be increased or the inside length 59 of the car decreased, (See Fig.- 18.) f

The end portions 8 of the major corrugations 2 are made deep enough to project between the ladder rungs I I, but not beyond the outer surface When the end portions 8 of the major corrugations 2 are about three inches deep and the end portions I2 of the reinforcing ribs 5 are one and one-half inches deep. the combined section modulus thereof is suiilcient to develop the` strength of the central portion of the four inch deep corrugation.

The safety appliance rules referred to above require a clear space of two and one-half inches -around the tread of each ladder rung. If the end portions 8 of the major corrugations 2 were extended to the plane I4 of the outside of the 'ladder increase in weight. 'I'his increase in weight is due to the fact that in forming the deeper corrugation more material is drawn in by the action of the reciprocating dies.

Figs. 5,- 6, '7 and 8, inclusive, show a single plate similar to the plate shown on the end wall of Fig. 1 but with the end portions 20 of the major corrugations 2I shallower than the end portions 22 of the reinforcing ribs 23 and the ladder rungs 24 mounted upon the relatively shallow end portions 20 of the major corrugations 2l.

In Figs. 5 and '7-I have shown the treads of the ladder rungs above the attaching rivets which may be advantageous in some cases.

Figs. 9 to 12, inclusive, show a single plate according to a modification of my invention wherein a relatively thin metallic plate is formed with a plurality of corrugations 30-3I with their opposite ends. 32 terminating into the plate which would be adiacentcorner posts of the car, as shown ,in Figs. land 2. Some of the corrugations (preferably inpairs) merge together between their ends to'form :a lesser number of wider corrugations33, and preferably deeper corrugations substantially midway between the ends of the corrugations which, when applied to the car, would be substantially midway between .the corner posts of the car. Some of -the first mentioned corrugations (shown as 38) are formed with shallow end portions upon which the ladder rungs 34 are mounted'so as to increase the end ladder clearance when; the plate is installed upon a car.

Figs. '13 to 16, inclusive, show a single plate according to another modification of.` my invention wherein a relatively thin metallic plate is formed with a plurality of major corrugations 40 with their opposite ends terminating into vthe plate which would be adjacent the corner posts of the car, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. 'I'he plate is also formed with pairs of aligned shallower minor corrugations 4I-42 positioned between adjacent major corrugations I with their inner ends 43 terminating into the plate and with their outer ends M terminating into the plate suby stantially in line with the outer ends of the major corrugations. The ladder rungs I5 are mounted upon the shallower minor corrugations to increase the end ladder clearance.

Any of the described types of corrugated plates having a shallow corrugation, or a corrugation having ashallow portion to accommodate a ladder rung may be used as part of a side door for al railway car wherein such shallow corrugation or of cooperating beams extendablevbetween said frame members. some of said corrugations being formed with end portions shallower than the end portions of the other of said corrugaltions and ladder rungs mounted upon said shallower end portions parallel therewith and which project beyond the other of said corrugations.

3. A wall for a railway car comprising a metallic plate adapted to be secured to oppositely disposed frame members of the car and provided with.a plurality of horizontally disposed major corrugations extendable substantially between the frame members and terminating into the plateadjacent said'frame members and' a pair of alined shallower horizontally4 disposed minor corrugations positioned between adjacent major corrugations with their inner ends terminating l into the plate and with their outer ends. terminating into the plate in line with the outer ends of the major corrugations and ladder rungs mounted upon some of said shallower minor corrugations parallel therewith and which, project outwardly beyond the major corrugations.

4. A railway car wall comprising a metallic plate adapted to extend between and be secured to spaced apart frame members of the car, said of two coupled cars to illustrate the Interstate Commerce Commission requirements for end ladder clearance under its safety appliance rules wherein the line 50 represents a vertical plane passing through the pulling faces 5I of the coupier knuckles 52 when the striking heads 53 are against the buiers 54 on the cars and the ladder rung 55 represents the end ladder and the space 56 shows the end ladder clearance" which according to law must be at least twelve inches. From this diagram it will be seen that if the dimension 56 remains constant and the depth 51 of the corrugation is decreased the train length l The iifteen inch centers'of majorl corrugations heretofore mentioned meet these requirements.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that'the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A railway car wall comprising a metallic plate adapted to extend between and be secured to spaced apart frame members of the car, said plate formed with a plurality of horizontally dis-, posed sinuous corrugations providing a yplurality of Vcooperating beams extendable between said frame members, every other of said corrugations being formed with end portions shallower than the end portions of the corrugations therebetween and ladder rungs mounted upon said shallower end portions parallel therewith and which project beyond the corrugations therebetween.

2. A railway car wall comprising a metallic plate adapted to extend between and be secured to spaced apart frame members of the car, said plate formed with a plurality of horizontally disposed sinuous corrugations providing a plurality plate formed with a plurality of horizontally disposed corrugations extendable between and with their opposite ends terminating into the plate adjacent said frame members, some of said cor- A rugations merging together between their ends to form a lesser number of wider corrugations, some of said first mentioned corrugations being formed with shallow end portions and ladder rungs mounted upon said shallow end portions parallel therewith and which project outwardly beyond the other of said iirst mentioned corrugations.

5. A railway car wallvcomprising a metallic plate adapted to extend between and be secured to spaced apart frame members `of the car, said plate formed with a plurality of horizontally dis,- posed deep corrugations alternating with corrugations which are shallower than the deep corrugations for the entire length thereof so as to provide a plurality of cooperating beams extendable between said frame members and ladder rungs mounted upon the end portions of said shallower corrugations parallel therewith and which project beyond the deep corrugations.

6. A railway car wall comprising a metallic plate adapted to extend between and be secured to spaced apart frame members ofthe car, said plate formed with aplurality of horizontally disposed deep corrugations which decrease in width toward their opposite ends alternating with sha1- lower corrugations which increase in width toward' their opposite ends thus providing a plurality of cooperating beams extendable'between said frame members, the end portions of the shallower corrugations being of less depth than the end portions of the deep corrugations, and

frame members of the car and formed with a plurality of horizontally disposed sinuous alternating major and minor corrugations extendable substantially between said frame4 members and merging into said sheet adjacent said frame members, said major corrugations being deep and wide at the middles thereof andl decreasing in depth and width toward the opposite ends thereof. said minor corrugations being shallower than the major corrugations for the entire lengths thereof and increasing in depth and width toward the opposite ends thereof, vwhereby the major and minor corrugations are cooperatively associated and relatively proportioned to develop the maximum strength of the corrugations as beams at any cross section thereof to carry stresses imposed thereon to said frame members.

8. A structure as defined in claim 7 including l ladder rungs mounted upon the end portions of the minor corrugations and parallel therewith,

with the ladder rungs projecting outwardly beyond the' major corrugations.

9. A structure as defined in claim '7 wherein l the end portions of the minor corrugations are Vof constant depth for a short distance, and ladder rungs are'mounted upon said constant depth por- .tions and project outwardly beyond-the major corrugations.

10. A metallic plate of substantially uniform thickness at any transverse cross section thereof formed with a plurality of parallel sinuous alternating-major and minor corrugations extending from substantially one edge of said plate to the opposite edge thereof, said major corrugations being deep and wide at the middles thereof and decreasing in depth and width toward the opposite ends thereof, said minor corrugationsbeing shallower than the major corrugations for the i entire lengths thereof and increasing in depth and width toward the opposite ends thereof, said major and minor corrugations being so proportioned and cooperatively arranged that the section modulus curve substantially follows the shallower than the maiorv corrugations for the entire lengths thereof and increasing in depth and width toward the opposite ends thereof, the

combined strength of the end portions of the major corrugations and end portions of the minor corrugations being sunicient to develop the combined strength of the major corrugations and minor corrugations at the middles thereof when the plurality of major corrugations and minor corrugations are considered as beams supporting an equally distributed load.

12. A metallic plate of substantially uniform 'thickness at any transverse cross section thereof adapted for use in a railway car having spaced frame members. said plate formed with a plurality of parallel sinuous alternating major and minor corrugations adapted to extend between and to said frame members, said major corrugations being deep and wide at the middles thereof and decreasing in depth and width toward the opposite ends thereof, said minor con'ugations being shallower than the major corrugations for the entire lengths thereof and increasing in depth and width toward the opposite ends thereof, said major and minor corrugatlons being so proportioned and cooperatively arranged when acting as beams supporting an equally distribbending moment curve, thereby providing a plate having maximum resiliency and strength foran equally distributed load.

11. A metallic plate of substantially uniformv thickness atl any transverse .cross section thereof formed with a plurality of parallel sinuous alternating major and minor corrugations extending from substantially one edge of said plate to the opposite edge thereof, said majorcorrugations-- being deep and wide at the middles thereof and decreasing in depth and width toward the opposite ends thereof, said minor corrugations being uted load between said frame members that the section modulus curve substantially follows the bending moment curve thereby providing a plate having maximum resiliencyv and strength for an equally distributed load.

13. A- metallic plate of substantially uniform thickness at any transverse cross section thereof.

l0 wherein the end portions of the minor corru gations are of constant depth for application of grab irons thereto.

- GARTH G. GILPIN. 

